The GQG Partners Inc. (ASX: GQG) share price has commenced trade on the Australian share market today after completing its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO).
The good news for investors that took part in the IPO, is that the fund manager's shares have started very strongly.
At the time of writing, the GQG Partners share price is fetching $2.13. This is 6.5% higher than its listing price of $2.00 per share.
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What is GQG Partners?
GQG Partners is a global boutique asset management firm with a focus on active equity portfolios.
It was founded by Executive Chairman and CIO Rajiv Jain and CEO Tim Carver in 2016 and is now managing a total of US$85.8 billion across its investment strategies. The company counts many of the largest pension funds, sovereign funds, wealth management firms, and global financial institutions as clients.
GQG Partners raised approximately $1.2 billion at a price of $2.00 per share from its IPO giving it a market capitalisation of $5.91 billion. The offer price was the bottom end of its IPO price range of $2.00 to $2.20 per share.
Judging by the GQG Partners share price performance this afternoon, it seems that investors saw this as good value and have been picking up shares today.
Furthermore, based on the current GQG Partners share price, the fund manager's market capitalisation has now increased to $6.3 billion. This brings it a step closer to matching rival Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG), which has a ~$6.6 billion market capitalisation.
The GQG strategy
Mr Jain has previously commented on the GQG strategy.
He explained: "Our goal is quite simple: to compound our clients' capital over time. To do this, we need to protect assets in difficult markets and participate in rising markets. We have developed an investment approach that strives to do just that, based on a lens we call Forward Looking Quality. This concept ignores the traditional investment constraints associated with growth and value and instead focuses on investing in companies that we believe are going to be successful over the next 5 years and beyond."
This strategy has worked very well and generated strong returns since 2016. Shareholders will be hoping for more of the same over the next five years.
